Resilient driving connection.



G. M. EATON.

RESILIENT DRIVING CONNECTION. APPLICATION FILED IAN.11,1909.

937,291. v Patented 0ct.19,1909.

1 VENTOR BY v1. 1

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE M EATON, OF WILKINSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION PENNSYLVANIA.

:ensrmnn'r nnrvrne CONNECTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.-

Patented o t, 19, 1909.

Application filed January 11, 1909. Serial Ito-5471,6413.

all whom it may concern:

Be itknown-that. I, GEORGE M; EATON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Wilkinsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State oi Pennsylvania, have in rented 'a new and useful Improvement in Resilient Driving Connections, of which the following is a specification. ,7 T

My invention relates to resilient'ior yielding driving connections, and it has for its object to provide a connection of this character that is simple and durable in construction and is adapted to be interposed between a quill or sleeve, on which an electric driving motor is mounted, and the truck axle of the locomotive'tir other vehicle propelled by the motor. i

When the driving motors of electric locomotives are mounted concentrically with the truck axles, it is specially advantageous to provide a resilient or yielding connection between the motor armatures and the ve-' hicle wheels in order'to minimize thestrains imposed upon the track and upon the vepipile structure by irregularities in the road According to my present invention, I provide a floating ring and a plurality of helical springs tangentially arranged end to end in the form of a'polygon, one end of each spring being connected to a projection.

on the floating ring and the free ends of alternate springs being connected, res ectively, to projections on the quill an to spokes of the wheel.

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawing is a view, partially in elevation and partially in section, of a portion of'a wheel and resilient driving connections constructedin accordance with my invention, and Fig. 2 is a detail view showin'g a preferred means for detachably connecting spring grips to proections on the quill' and on thegwheel.

Referring to the drawings, the matter illustrated comprises a wheel 1, having a plurality of spokes 2, 3 and i, an axle 5, a quill 6 surrounding the axle, a floating ring 7 and a plurality of tangentiallydisposed helical springs 8 that support the floating ring and are interposed between the quill and the wheel, as hereinafter setforth. The spokes 2 of the wheel 1 are provided withrecesses 2* to receive shanks, of projections 9 that extend laterally from a pair of spring grips --10-'and 11 and grips 10 and 11 to which the adjacent ends of two of the springs are secured? The pl'ilections' 9 are provided 'ufth flanges 1-2 which engage one side of the spokes 2 at the edge of the recess 2 when the spring grips are in position and w ien they are separated by a wedge 13 as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. The dimensions of the recess 2* and the size of the flanges, 12 on the projeC-,

tions 9 are such that the projections must be inserted in the recess one at a time and their adjacent surfaces are beveled slightly to accommodate them to the taper wedges 13. The wedges 13 are provided with cars 14 by which they may be withdrawn when it is necessary to knock down the connection. The small end of each wedge. as indicated at 13, is bent over, after it is in position, to prevent it from becoming accidentally loosened. A plurality of brackets 15 are secured to a flange 16"of the quill 6 and are provided with recesses 17 which correspond -to' the recesses 2 in the spokes 2. The

springs may be secured to the grips by any suitable means, the structure illustrated and described in a copending application, Serial No. 426,344, filed April 10, 1908, by,John E. Webster, and assi ned to the Westinghouse Electric & Mfg: erable. l v

In accordance with the Webster structure referred to above, the spring grips 10 are provided with holes 18 to receive the ends of the springs, and plugs 19'are, screwed into 0., being considered prefthe ends of the springsafter they are'in place to clampthem in position, the inner surfaces ofthe spring grips and surfaces'of the plugs being provided with helical grooves which conform to the contour of thejsprings.

The floatingring 7 'is provided with-a ph rality of ears 7 to which bifurcated spring grips 20 are secured. The grips 20 are adapted to receive adjacent ends of two springs in a 'manner similar to the spring are also provided with plugs 19. The brackets 15 and the spokes 2 of the wheel 1 are equal in number and are uniformly spaced about the axis of the wheel, .the brackets being midway between the spokes 2. floating ring 7 are'uniformly disposed about the axis of the Wheel, but there are twice as many as there are brackets 15, the projec- The projections 20 on the the outer the connection,

4 tively establishing tions 20 being interposed between the brackets and the spokes 2. By utilizing the floating ring, a greater flexibility is obtained in but it will be readily understood that the other novel features referred to are not limited in their application to resilient connections embodying floating rings.

I desire that only such limitations in the scope of my invention shall be imposed as are indicated in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A resilient driving connection comprising a. rotatable driving member, a driven member, a floating ring and two sets of springs'respectively interposed between the driving member and the ring and the driven member and the ring.

2. A resilient driving connection comprising a rotatable driving member, a driven member, a floating ring and two sets of springs tangentially arranged and respecconnections from the ring to the driving member and to the driven member.

3. A resilient driving connection comprising a driving wheel, a sleeve or quill conw centric with the axis of the wheel'having radial projections extending between the wheel spokes, a floating ring and helical springs tangentially interposed between the ring and the projections and between the ring and the wheel spokes.

at. A driving connection comprising a driving member, a driven member having radial projections and helical springs tangentially arranged and interposed between the projections and the driving member, spring grips secured to the ends 9f the springs, and shank projections extending through recesses in the projections, and means for securing the shank projections of two spring grips ineach recess.

5. A driving connection comprising a driving member, a driven member having radial projections and helical springs tangentially arranged and interposed between the projections and the driving member, spring grips secured to the ends of the springs and shank projections extending through recesses in the projections, and a taper wedge for securing the shank projections of two spring grips in each recess.

' In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 21st day of December,1908.

GEORGE M. EATON. Vitn esses R. J. DEARBORN, Bmxnv HINES, 

